Thank you all for my Birthday encouragement through all the various means. We partied hard in Nitra today. So thankful.
On my first day in my 30s I was blown away [shocked, Laurel cried, etc.] when I was given this portrait of our family!
Whaaaaa?!
Our friend Miska totally nailed each one of us. And that’s acrylic, not digital, btw.
Wow.
Picked up these residency cards today. Slovakia says these two are cute enough to stay. Parents’ cards are also in hand 
Last night was a country wide scavenger hunt called “Night of the Churches” that most large cities in Slovakia have taken part in for a few years now.
It was promoted in our city by our city with hopes to expose our citizens to the history and architecture of the old majestic buildings that have been around for centuries.
Our church meets in the space adjacent to this courtyard inside the old city walls right on the cobblestone path that leads to the city’s most prominent Catholic church which is referred to simply as The Castle.
From 6pm to 11pm, people curiously stopped their planned pilgrimage up to or down from the majestic castle to check out the curious group of partying people that seemed to be compensating for their lack of ancient steeples and crypts with excellent barbecue (google ‘špekačky’), music, and storytelling.
Many stayed for hours and even sat in on a short overview of what exactly happened 500 years ago with Martin Luther and the reformation. (In the U.S., when someone asked me about the history of our church, I often began, “Well, 15 years ago our church was planted by…” In a very Catholic city, like Nitra, to answer that question you might need to begin: “Well, in 1517, a guy named Martin Luther…”
The organizers of the event from the city came to visit us as we were getting the party going. They were intrigued by the party. They left to make their rounds to the other churches, but came back about a couple hours later and stayed for a long time. Before they left they said: “Wow, this is incredible. You can tell that you are a group of people that really love each other. We’ve been all over the city the last couple of hours, but this is the place to be tonight. It’s obvious that your church is much more than this place that you meet in.”
Love being part of this church family.
And I love our city.
Jesus, redeem Nitra from it’s lofty, Godless, religion.
This morning I got together for breakfast with three of my closest friends that I go back with over 20 years on the terrace of a little cafe in Bratislava.
We hadn’t seen each other in years and we only had about 45 minutes before the workday began.
We had barely begun to catch up when a tiny car bumped up on the curb next to us with a very loud flat (read: destroyed) tire. We looked through the passenger window and saw a disheveled girl in her late twenties lay her head down on the steering wheel defeated. She looked like she already had a rough morning and that this was the final blow.
She didn’t even glance at us even though we were quite literally two feet away from her, and when we approached her, she responded awkwardly with a slight speech impediment that she was just going to call a tow truck and didn’t want to be a bother.
We spent the next few minutes and a big chunk of our little time together getting her set to go.
Turns out she was on the road to an important college exam and as soon as her tire blew she assumed she wouldn’t make it as she had never changed a tire and didn’t even know she had a spare in her trunk. She was in tears, and quite generous with hugs (not a common thing in Central Europe) by the end of our interaction.
The four of us didn’t really have time to catch up that much. But we all decided it was the best way to spend our morning and the best way to reconvene a scattered friendship. We also concluded it was indeed the best place for her to find herself helpless in a city of over half a million people.
Love these guys and am looking forward to seeing our stories intertwined once again.
And I bet she killed her exam. 
-Dawson
Great to be withMozaikakosice church this weekend. Mostly thankful for amazing guláš.
People ask why we moved to Slovakia… guláš.
Im not so sure I would pass the birthright vs stew/guláš test 
We’ve been connected and serving Ervin Mittelmann and Tomas Boros since before they planted.
Tacoma sometime in 2015.
Love these guys!
from our flat this evening.
Who wants to come visit?
This dreamy woman just hopped on an elevator to go catch a bus to walk across town to start her first official Slovak lesson.
👋🏼🚚🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚚👋🏼
Above: Feb 8, Tacoma, WA
Below: Apr 3, Nitra, Slovakia
It’s kind of surreal to see your things appear in a different corner of the world. Notice that in both pictures I’m wearing the same clothes. Two months of living out of suitcases has come to a close!
Thank you everyone who helped us unload today! 
Our dear friend Lisa Hepfer captured our last day at our sending church, Soma Tacoma, as only she can. Look at these pictures!
This was such a meaningful day for us. We were able to have our Slovak team and partners present with us. For our Soma Tacoma family, goodbye was less like seeing us disappear into a black void and more like a relational baton handoff, as they got to spend a whole week getting to know these guys we would soon be joining.
DAWSON AND LAUREL JONES 